That was definitely something she would never have expected. Elliot Marshall was back in Finley Creek. Back. Wow. “Unh-uh. No way. Elliot Marshall wouldn’t have anything to do with the Texas State Police. Especially here in Finley Creek. I heard he quit almost five years ago to go to the FBI. And he definitely wouldn’t believe me. He always thought I was nuts. That I didn’t see anything that night. And he wasn’t all that nice to me before that.” Sara’s two oldest brothers, Chance and Elliot, had already been adults with their own careers at the time Sara and the rest of her family had been murdered. They’d both had sudden other plans the night their family was killed. It had saved their lives; Gabby didn’t doubt that at all. Chance was around eight years older than her and Elliot was a few years older than him—she hadn’t known them well. They’d scared the timid kid she was back then.
“Well, a lot has changed in ten years. You have, right? Maybe he has, too.”
Somehow Gabby doubted it. “I don’t know, Bryn. I guess I just need to think about what I want to do before I say anything to anyone else. Besides, Oregon, where this latest case was, is a really long way away. It was probably not related. I hope.”
“I understand. Just...keep your doors locked, ok? Statistically, these probably aren’t the same killers. But why play the odds? Why don’t you come home with me tonight?”
“No. I’m ok. If I start hiding with friends instead of facing things head on, I’ll never be able to live my life without the fear, right?” A hard lesson she’d had to learn over the past ten years.
“Sometimes I just don’t understand your reasoning. You’d be safer with us. Dad and Mel both have guns.”
“I know. But thank you for offering. It means a lot.”
If someone was coming for her, there was no way she’d want Brynna and Mel—or their younger sisters and father—in the line of fire. No way. She’d stick it out in her own apartment, with Bug the Cat and her panic attacks for company.
If someone was coming for her, she would never want her best friends standing between them. Ever.
CHAPTER THREE.
* * *
ELLIOT chose to dive right in the next morning. The former chief had left everything ruthlessly organized, and Elliot appreciated it. No one knew if Elliot’s appointment would be permanent or temporary, and he wanted things to go as seamlessly as possible for everyone. He wasn’t even certain he wanted the position long-term.
He’d had the choice of early retirement after he’d taken a bullet during a case over a year ago. That hadn’t been an option at the time, and he’d kept going with the TSP.
Who retired at thirty-six? Elliot didn’t know what he’d do with himself if he didn’t have law enforcement, didn’t have the Texas State Police. It had been everything he’d worked for since he was a kid. Ten years ago that want had shifted to being his best tool for finding the answers he needed.
The call for this appointment couldn’t have come at a better time. The first thing he had done was gather all the personnel files for everyone under his command. He had one hundred thirty-two officers, eighty-six detectives, fifty-six support staff, and twenty-four forensics technicians. It was the second largest post of the TSP in the state, a far cry from his former position with one of the smaller posts in Garrity.
But he would run it as he had run his previous assignment. He prized integrity and efficiency amongst his staff. Held himself to the same high standard. Elliot would start by knowing the people he led. He needed to get out of his office and actually see the Finley Creek TSP in action.
Elliot wasn’t one of those leaders who stayed hidden away; he’d always believed in hands-on like his father had taught him a leader should be. This place would be no different, though he had a strong suspicion he’d be facing more politics and less police work than he ever had before.
Elliot wasn’t made for politics, and he would be the first to admit it.
He waved Officer Journey away and headed for the main elevators. He needed to poke around downstairs, see how his people operated when they weren’t expecting him.
Every operation had a unique feel to it; it was far past time he found out what this post’s was.
* * *
IT seemed well ran. Finley Creek had some of the best people in the organization—at least by reputation. Elliot put more faith in history than reputation. From the moment he’d accepted the appointment he’d quietly started pulling cases, going back forty years. The TSP had been in existence off and on since 1870 and had a tumultuous history—and not always a great reputation.
Today it dealt with a variety of crimes and worked in conjunction with the Texas Highway Patrol, Rangers, and Attorney General’s office, just among others.
Elliot wanted to know all of the cases that had crossed the doors of the Finley Creek Post, the second largest in the state.
It was going to take a while, but he was determined to at least touch on as many cases as he could. His wasn’t a political position, he was there to run the Finley Creek TSP to the best of his ability. Not win favor for later positions in the future. That wasn’t his way.
Elliot hated politics.
This was the first real opportunity he had to get his hands on the Finley Creek TSP files from ten years ago. Which would most likely be in the computer forensic department’s archives, as most of what they had on his family’s murders was digital. A decade-old digital, at that.
Everything they had hinged on the video taken of the murders that day.
Or so he had always been told.
Elliot would speak with the head of the TSP’s computer forensic division as soon as he possibly could. Bennett Russell was a pioneer in the Computer Forensics field and had spent his entire career in his hometown of Finley Creek.
He was one of the ones with the reputation of greatness that the TSP was known for.
Elliot’s father had spoken highly of Benny’s computer skills when they’d worked together. He’d tried to get Elliot interested in computer technology when Elliot had been ten. But that wasn’t Elliot’s plan at all.
For him, it had been Texas State Police from the beginning. He’d lived and breathed cop from the time he was old enough to understand what his father did for a living. Had childish fantasies of catching all the bad guys and making his father proud.
Now was as good a time as any. Elliot headed toward the Computer Forensics department on the first floor.
At one time, when Computer Forensics first became relevant and Benny was pushing hard to grow his division, the department had boasted three times as many people. Of course, technology had changed so much in the last several decades. Fewer people were needed to do the same jobs.
Today, the Finley Creek TSP Computer Forensics department was still one of the best in the nation—but it had only sixteen people.
Most likely Benny kept his best on day shift, which meant they’d be there now. If Elliot was inclined, he could pull one of them to find what he was looking for.
It would be taking them away from whatever pressing cases there were, and there were always pressing cases. A ten-year-old cold case wouldn’t be one of them, no matter how much he wished he could focus the whole post on finding the bastards responsible for his family. He could wait. That didn’t mean he couldn’t take a look at the Computer Forensics department now, though.
A glass entrance separated the lab from the reception area of the two-story annex. Elliot wasn’t so sure he liked how isolated the CF department was. He may need to move them out of the annex and into the main building, to be nearer the rest of the officers and detectives. The space downstairs was being wasted—there were too many empty offices and conference rooms in the computer forensics lab. Offices that could be used to house detectives.
He’d picked up an entourage—exactly what he’d hoped to avoid—about half a dozen supervisors and support staff trailed after him, asking questions.
He understood it; he was new and their boss. The unknown. And the TSP was their
livelihoods. They wanted to make a good impression.
Bennett Russell was in the small conference-slash-breakroom with two of his staff. They had half a dozen laptops, a tablet, iPhone, and three-ringed notebooks spread out among them. And a dozen glazed donuts and soda on the table.
It looked like a study session, rather than a criminal forensics department. Informal.
Interesting. Nothing at all like the sleek professionalism of the TSP departments in the five-story main building he’d just left.
Elliot nodded at Russell then took a closer look at the two techs seated next to him.
Pretty. Very, very pretty. That was the first thing he noticed. Elliot was a healthy man, after all. These two would get noticed anywhere. But they were a hell of a lot younger than he was expecting.
They stopped their conversation and they stared at him, then stood. Their shoulders touched, and they looked at each other. Then at him. Back at each other.
He fought a smile. Something about the two of them side-by-side amused him. He didn’t know what, but it did. Maybe the wide-eyed nerves? Was it because he was the Division Chief?
“Elliot!” the blonde on the left said, drawing his attention immediately. Her cheeks flushed. “I...uh...mean ...Sir...it’s good to see you again.”
Elliot looked into big blue eyes behind purple-framed glasses. Eyes that looked familiar…
Curious about the Beck family?
Check Them Out in:
Wanting, Running, Revealing & Case Files 0001 “Knocked Out”
Other Romantic Suspense Titles from Calle J. Brookes
PAVAD: FBI Romantic Suspense
Beginning
Waiting
Watching
Wanting
Second Chances
Hunting
Running
Redeeming
Revealing
Stalking
Burning
Ghosting
Gathering
Coming Soon…
FALLING
Shelter from the Storm (Finley Creek Book 2) Page 30
